The new paid access model
Apple has updated Logic Pro by adding an option to purchase additional usage of Apple Intelligence features for a one-time price of $49.99. The development, spotted by 9to5Mac and reported by The Verge, marks the first case in which one of the company's applications applies an additional cost to extend access to these capabilities. The update comes after the publication, in early September, of a support article outlining usage limits for some features.
How the packs work
Apple calls these purchases Intelligence Usage Packs. According to reports, they are intended to allow continued use of certain features that have usage limits because they rely on cloud AI models from OpenAI or Google Gemini. The packs are tied exclusively to the Apple account that purchased them and cannot be shared via Family Sharing. Unused additional usage carries over from one month to the next but expires twelve months after purchase. The company states on its website that, for Logic Pro, the usage limit is affected by the complexity of conversations with the assistant. Users who exhaust their access will find the option in the Intelligence Features and Show Usage sections of the app's main menu.
The assistant built into Logic Pro, as described in the material, enables operations such as starting a new song, setting up a vocal track from a single prompt, or refining an already active project.
Expected expansion and open questions
At present, Logic Pro is the only application offering the purchase of additional usage. The material indicates, however, that the option will be introduced over the course of the month in other Apple Creator Studio apps, including Pixelmator Pro, Final Cut Pro and Motion, as well as Pages, Keynote and Numbers, which are gaining access to the company's AI chatbot.
The episode clarifies a point that has so far been implicit: some Apple Intelligence features are not unlimited, and exceeding the thresholds may entail a cost. It remains to be verified what the actual scale of the limits is for each app, how notices will be presented to users, and whether the paid-pack model will become the standard for all features based on cloud models. The material also does not specify whether the packs will be available in all markets or whether the price will vary between applications.
